Being a teenager, realize a lot of
things. At school your teacher may be a
great person but they never explain the lesson well enough, or you get to
chuckle with your best friend about what the new kid is wearing, or even
realize who is good at sports and who thinks they are “good” at sports. One
most prominent idea that has prospered though among young adults is
relationships and what is expected of them.
No matter If you
are scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media
site there is always different posts about a girl wanting a unexpected visit
from their lover, and not only to come see her, but to also bring a beautiful
bouquet of flowers. Most recently we also see a girl complaining that her
boyfriend better get her the newest Pandora bracelet or Michael Kors bag. We also
see girls complaining that their boyfriend is talking to another girl, and they
become jealous wanting nothing more than to make the other girl disappear from
the face of the earth. But when it comes
to the feelings and emotions of the guy in the relationship, in most cases, he
has become accustom to beckoning to every order of his partner and will do
anything to make her happy, even if it means sacrificing something else in his
life. This may seem cruel and inappropriate but it has become a norm in teenage
relationships and will continue for many generations.
The biggest culprit
for this particular way of thinking is the prince charming effect. From the
time that we are little we fill our minds with movies of Disney princesses and
other stories that allow for a lovely lady to be swept of her feet by a
handsome, strong man and in results they live happily ever after without any complications
impeding on her life any longer. We see this when Prince Charming takes
Cinderella away from her duties of being the maid of the house, and she then was
flourished with extravagant clothes and a beautiful carriage to escort her
around. Or in romantic novel the Notebook, when Ally once thought she
was trapped in a relationship with a man of her caliber, but realizes she loves
Noah, the lower class boy and he fights for her love no matter what, showering
her with love notes for a year and constantly reminding her of her beauty, and in
the end they rekindle their relationship and die in each other’s arms. These
are just two examples in which were made in a few decades of each other, and throughout
each story the same theme is being reiterated, in which is that a girl deserves
everything and should be given and shown whatever it takes for her to realize
her value and true beauty.
Now not every relationship may be like this, but I guarantee
the majority of relationships are. This
just shows how story can allow for such a controversial topic to become a norm
in historical and modern society. Yes, girls may complain a lot and may seem
full of themselves, but in my opinion we can only blame the authors, writers
and directors of these powerful stories. These types of prince charming stories
have been passed down from generation to generation and have influenced the mind of young women
greatly and have served as an example as to how all men should treat their
lady. All in all, I do feel bad for the men involved in these relationships but
this way of life will not change unless the plot line of our most popular types
of stories are changed into something in which shows that men and women have established
equality in a relationship.
Usually some of the first movies we watch as little girls are the Disney princess movies. As classical as these movies are, they do give us a rather "fairy tale" like view of what a relationship should be like. When we eventually grow up; however, we start to see how unrealistic Disney movies really are, not to mention the Nicholas Sparks books that now take the place of these beloved movies. But maybe it's these types of media that help show that true love does exist and that there are true "prince charmings" out there.
ReplyDeleteI think that often love stories show readers the best possible scenario, and then end the book. Yeah, Cinderella may have married the first man she fell for, but what if Prince Charming is lazy and doesn't like to take showers? Sometimes, there is a reason why an author ends a story where they do and they leave what happens next up to the imagination of the reader. It's important for all children growing up (not just girls) to realize that the real world works differently than the story world. However, this doesn't mean that a girl's Prince Charming or a guy's princess isn't out there. It just means that people have to be smart and recognize that real love can stand on it's own without material things common relationship rituals: when love is real, it's easy. Interesting post!!
ReplyDeleteI'm considering becoming an author just to write love stories about a "princess charming" that can actually live without depending on her male counterpart because this whole "guys have to do everything" is exhausting! I don't blame girls for thinking like this, after all, they were raised to believe this. At least you understand what we go through sometimes!
ReplyDeleteThis was a good post! It's so true that rom-com's and such have skewed our way of thinking hen it comes to relationships. Personally, I fear that in a relationship if a guy keeps bending over backwards in extravagant ways for a girl, he'll tire of it and the relationship will end for a silly reason. I think it's great to be "wooed", but it should be balanced with a simple day at the park or just watching a Disney movie (Cinderella, perhaps?) every now and then. Good post, Taylor!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post because I agree that movies and stories showed to young girls give them unrealistic or too high of hopes for relationships later in life. Every girl wants a "prince charming" to sweep them off their feet and take them away and live happily every after but in today's world it s unrealistic. Some girls now are expecting the over the top grand gesture to have the guy "sweep her away" when in reality a little sweet thing can do the same and is more realistic. Guys face the challenges of meeting the expectations of the girls sometimes that are completely unrealistic so it is hard for the guys to meet this expectation. However, guys try to do these grand gestures you see in movies and fairytales today and a perfect example of these are creative promposals and proposals. Disney princess movies can be held for a lot of the blame but that's what movies are supposed to do they are supposed to take us to a dreamlike reality where we can escape problems in the real world like relationships for a few hours. Great post, this was very interesting!
ReplyDelete